Galbanic Acid Improves Accumulation and Toxicity of Arsenic Trioxide in MT-2 Cells.

Background: Galbanic acid (GBA) is a sesquiterpene coumarin with valuable pharmacological effects. Adult T-cell lymphoma (ATL) is an aggressive lymphoid malignancy with a low survival rate. Although arsenic trioxide (ATO) is a standard therapeutic agent for ATL treatment, the efficacy of chemotherapy is limited due to the chemoresistance of cells.

Objective: The present study was carried out to investigate whether GBA in combination with ATO would improve cytotoxicity against ATL cells.

Methods: GBA was isolated from the roots of Ferula szowitsiana by column chromatography on silica gel. MT-2 cells were treated with 20 μM GBA + 4 μM ATO, and viability was evaluated by alamarBlue assay. The cell cycle was analyzed by PI staining, while the activity of P-glycoprotein (P-gp) was evaluated by mitoxantrone efflux assay. To understand the molecular mechanisms of GBA effects, the expression of NF-κB (RelA), P53, CDK4, c-MYC, c-FLIPL, and c-FLIPS was evaluated using real-time PCR.

Results: Combinatorial use of GBA + ATO significantly reduced the viability of MT-2 cells and induced cell cycle arrest in the sub-G1 phase. GBA improved mitoxantrone accumulation in cells, indicating that this agent has inhibitory effects on the functionality of the P-gp efflux pump. Moreover, real-time PCR analysis revealed that GBA + ATO negatively regulated the expression of P53, CDK4, c-FLIPL, and c-FLIPS.

Conclusion: Due to the interesting effects of GBA on the accumulation and toxicity of ATO, combinatorial use of these agents could be considered a new therapeutic approach for ATL treatment.